How do I develop browser plugins with cross-platform and cross-browser compatibility in mind?

Asked 1/4, 2010 at 16:36 Answered 28/9, 2012 at 0:18

Solved cross-browser cross-platform activex webbrowser-control browser-plugin

My company currently has a product which relies on a custom, in-house ActiveX control. The technology it employs is itself cross-platform by design, but our solution is obviously limited to Internet Explorer on Windows.

Long term we would like to become cross-browser and cross-platform (i.e., support other browsers on Windows, support the Macintosh or Linux).

Obviously if we wanted to support Firefox on Windows I would need to write a plugin for it. But if we wanted to support the Macintosh, how do I attack that? Is it possible to compile a version of the Firefox plugin that runs on the Mac? Would I be remiss to not also support Safari on the Mac? Are there any plugins which are cross-browser on a platform? (i.e., can any browsers run plugins for other browsers)

What do people generally do when they want to support multiple platforms with a process that will need to be cross-platform and cross-browser compatible?

Heirship answered 1/4, 2010 at 16:36 Comment(0)

The answer is firebreath

Heirship answered 8/11, 2010 at 17:31 Comment(1)

Edited your post to post to firebreath.org instead of the google code page; we don't use that anymore =] – Intention 4/9, 2011 at 20:59

You could also try kango

Interpolation answered 4/9, 2011 at 17:56 Comment(2)

kango looks interesting, but it is for extensions, not plugins. see npapi.com/extensions – Intention 4/9, 2011 at 20:58

@Intention I think the OP wants extension – Mcbrayer 17/9, 2015 at 8:59

Maybe FireBreath is a good choice for you! I just compile a test plugin on vs2010 and it's compatible with IE9, Firefox and google chrome.

Jaquelin answered 28/9, 2012 at 0:18 Comment(3)

Any chance you are affiliated with FireBreath? – Abdullah 2/10, 2012 at 12:31

I am a newbie to FireBreath now. But I think it's a amazing tool to create a plugin. – Jaquelin 7/10, 2012 at 1:26

it is portable to Mac? – Mares 31/1, 2014 at 20:47

I would consider using Java with native libraries. Long time age I've seen video chat developed in such way. Applet included native code for every supported platform. I'm not a java programmer, I can't tell you details, but it worked.

Cosmorama answered 2/4, 2010 at 5:35 Comment(0)

use COM on Windows and XPCOM/Corba in Firefox/Linux.

Pass answered 1/4, 2010 at 16:57 Comment(2)

OS X is also just a Unix, so XPCOM should do it there, too. – Pass 2/4, 2010 at 17:44

XPCOM isn't supported for creating browser plugins in Firefox anymore, and on windows COM would only work on IE. On all platforms, XPCOM would only help on Firefox even back when it was supported for plugins. (note, I realize that it can still be used for extensions) – Intention 4/9, 2011 at 20:57

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